On Stage with The Lincoln Theatre

Reviving History: Inside The Lincoln Theatre's Journey from Movie Palace to Modern Hub

• Bob Watkins • Episode 1

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Meet Bob Watkins with The Lincoln Theatre

Curious about the incredible journey of a nearly century-old theatre? Join us as Executive Director Bob Watkins takes us behind the curtain of The Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia. From its 1929 debut as a movie palace to its revitalization in 2004 through a massive $2.1 million renovation, discover how community spirit and relentless dedication transformed this dormant venue into a vibrant hub for live performances.

Ever wondered what it takes to run a historic theatre? Bob pulls back the curtain on his multifaceted role, revealing the challenges and triumphs of managing a 95-year-old building. Learn about the unique responsibilities he and his small team navigate daily, from securing grants and planning performances to maintaining this architectural gem. And get an exclusive preview of the exciting plans in store for The Lincoln Theatre's 100th anniversary celebration. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone passionate about the arts, history, and community-driven success.

To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre go to:
https://www.thelincoln.org/

The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia  24354
276-783-6092

Speaker 1:

Welcome to On Stage with the Lincoln Theatre, where history and entertainment steal the show Dive into the rich legacy of this iconic Mayan revival theatre, from its 1929 debut to its starring role in Marion, Virginia's entertainment scene. Guiding us through this journey is the man in the spotlight, our executive director, Bob Watkins.

Speaker 2:

All right, welcome everybody. I'm Skip Mauney, co-host and producer here in the studio with executive director Bob Watkins. Bob, how's it going Great. How are you doing, skip? With Executive Director Bob Watkins? Bob, how's it going Great. How are you doing Skip? I'm doing just fine, just fine, so let's just get right into it.

Speaker 2:

You've built an impressive following at the Lincoln Theater over the years and your show's momentum is undeniable. But some of your listeners might not know the backstory, the full story, yet. So, if you don't mind, why don't we start from the beginning and tell us a little bit about the Lincoln Theater and how it started?

Speaker 3:

Gotcha. Well, back in 1929, long time ago, charles Lincoln, a local business owner here, decided to bring a theater to Marion. It was originally built as a movie palace so it just strictly showed new release films and things there in 1929. So it worked as a movie house and movie palace up until around 1977, and then it was left dormant and vacant and unused and obviously it deteriorated over the years of being unused. And as a local group of community leaders and teachers, students, everybody came together and they decided, hey, we need to go ahead and repair this and bring it back to its days of glory there. And they put together a 501c3 foundation to go ahead and restore it and collect some grants to bring the building back.

Speaker 3:

And we were able to reopen the building after $2.1 million of renovations in 2004. So this past May we celebrated 20 years of reopening the Lincoln and when we reopened it we opted to go ahead and not do the first run films and we were doing all music and performances there live performances and tried to do a little bit of theater and everything like that. So we've grown quite a bit of traction in the entertainment industry here around us and our surrounding areas, so we've just continued to do a lot of community support to try to bring people into Marion and have them enjoy the gym that we have here in the hills of Virginia. So we're extremely fortunate to be a part of that and happy to do so as well.

Speaker 2:

Very good, wow, 1929. That's going pretty quick. Coming up on 100 years, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

July I think it was July 1st was our 95th year celebration.

Speaker 2:

Oh wow, Any big plans for the 100?

Speaker 3:

Well, for the 100, I do believe we will be doing quite a few things through July. I'm in the process of working with my team on trying to generate some fun activities and events and hopefully have a lot of people coming back in that were part of the resurrection of the theater here and celebrate their efforts and contributions as well.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll definitely look forward to that. That's just. Time is short, it's coming up soon.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I'll get you an invitation in the mail, awesome.

Speaker 2:

Awesome Counting on it. So let's talk about you a little bit as executive director. That's a pretty broad title. What exactly do you do? What's a day in the life look like?

Speaker 3:

small staff. Being a nonprofit 501c3 theater, here we have a very small staff, so everybody here on the team has all hands on deck, so to speak. So we all pitch in and do a little bit of everything. So my day can be breaking down from going out and pursuing grants, submitting grant proposals, proposals, then majority of all of the business aspects of it deposits, payments, bills Unfortunately there are quite a few bills, but I mean just customer interactions, working with patrons that have upcoming requests for the theater to go ahead and provide, and then also different areas of concerns that we may need to address with the patrons.

Speaker 3:

So a lot of customer service goes into the position, along with the maintenance and maintaining a 95-year-old building. That definitely brings a lot of work on a day-to-day basis there. So, yeah, all that, and then on top of it I just have to secure a performances for the upcoming year. So that's the fun part. That's the really fun part is to go ahead and secure all the activities and events for the community and stuff like that. So I've thoroughly enjoyed working with the community and getting to know what their interests are and what they would like to see here at the theater so we can go ahead and provide that for them.

Speaker 2:

Wow, well, it sounds like no two days are alike.

Speaker 3:

Right, yeah, Fortunately I have a very I mean, we do have a very small team, but it is a fantastic team of support that I have here, and our foundation and board is greatly involved in the success of the theater too. So I'm extremely fortunate to have the supporting team that we have here. So I think that definitely aids in all the success that we've seen.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think that says a lot. Every good boss, supervisor, leader gives credit to his team, so I think that's a tribute to you, to your leadership. So let's talk a little bit more about you. When you're not maintaining a 95-year-old building and booking really cool acts to come to the theater, what do you do? You know personally, for fun?

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean with the music. That is definitely a passion of mine, so I love to go out and see live music. Elsewhere I like to see different performances as well, but then I also like to disconnect from all the electronics emails and inquiries there. So go out and hit the trails and out in the mountains around the Hunger Mother State Park is definitely a destination that I like to just go ahead and get lost in National Forest around us. We're in a fantastic area to have that outdoor recreation. We're in a fantastic area to have that outdoor recreation. So that's what I kind of like to do to decompress a little bit and just connect with nature, and it helps to soothe and ease your mind in the times that we're in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I concur, when you've got such a big job with the theater and a small team, I can't imagine how busy you are. So it's great that you're able to take some time and get out and breathe a little bit and get away from the phone and the computer and all that too.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 2:

So from a broader perspective, bob, why are you doing this? I mean, why the Lincoln Theater? What's your greater purpose? I guess.

Speaker 3:

Well, I've relocated to Smith County in Marion about 11 years ago and from the time that I came here I was indoctrinated into all of the community support that you see around here.

Speaker 3:

There's a lot of different groups and foundations that work very hard for this area and the residents in the area and I think I just embrace that.

Speaker 3:

And the theater does so much to provide entertainment and an outlet for the people here, but at the same time it also provides a lot for the town support. We generate a lot of travelers coming in from outside of the area, tourists coming into Marion and Smith County, and I think what I want to do is definitely be a part of that and contribute to the success of our county and our residents, because I think the more tourism that we have and the more revenue that we can bring into our community, it's just going to, you know, further impact and positively impact our residents around the area. And that's kind of one of the big things that I enjoy bringing to our area here with the theater and the stuff that we do. So a lot of it is just, you know, obviously supporting the history of the theater, but supporting our town and our community is first and foremost, I believe in the mission and vision of our theater.

Speaker 2:

Can you give us a sneak peek of any shows upcoming shows that are exciting.

Speaker 3:

Well, what we have coming in quite a bit is we do have a lot of cover tribute artists coming in, but we have Rhonda Vincent is going to be coming in in November. She's going to be a really big, strong, powerful performance. I believe Gene Watson is on a farewell tour and he's going to be here in October. Actually, he's going to be doing a couple evening performance and a matinee performance in October. Then we also have Thirsty Thursdays coming in. That's a downtown happy hour event for anybody that wants to go ahead and come down and participate. We'll be having some live performances. Sprinkle in some rerun movies as well, just fun nostalgia movies that we all watched and enjoyed the first time around. So come on down here and celebrate that on thursday and get prepared for the weekend and I know everybody kind of gets tied up in that rat race, as we were talking about earlier so that thursday is a perfect time of the week to go ahead and have a little decompression and, uh, come in here and enjoy some entertainment. So so that first Thirsty Thursday is going to be October 10th that we're going to go ahead and host Jenny Tolman. She's a Nashville songwriter, so it's going to be a really fun performance there. We've got Old Gods of Appalachia. They're going to be coming doing a performance as well in October.

Speaker 3:

And then we also have our Christmas series is in full swing, as we're getting close to that year or that part of the year. So we have Chapel Heart is coming to doing a heartfelt Christmas celebration. Daly and Benson is going to be back finally for let's see, I think it's been about three years since Daly and Benson's been here, but they're going to be here for a Christmas show this December as well. Wizards of Winter it's very similar to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Several of their performers were part of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Several of their performers were part of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, so that should be a really fun performance too. So yeah, just a lot of stuff that we have going on, just a bunch of events, and we try to fill the calendar as full as we can.

Speaker 2:

Well, it sounds awesome. You can count on me being there. I'll give you a heads up so you can roll out the red carpet all right, so well, bob, love it. We'll catch you next episode, uh well, where we'll try to dive into some frequent, frequently asked questions about the lincoln theater. So that sounds great for being here, and uh have a great rest of your day, thanks thanks for tuning in to On Stage with the Lincoln Theater.

Speaker 1:

Want more of Mary and Virginia's entertainment scene? Visit us online at thelincolnorg yes, that's thelincolnorg or drop by our theater at 117 East Main Street. Let's keep the arts alive and kicking together.